How companies are using Lego building blocks to hire engineers

While hackathons are a common hiring method, placement officers in colleges say companies are tweaking the way they engage with students to gauge their behavioral and analytical skills.Bharat Joshi | ET Bureau | Updated: November 23, 2016, 08:39 IST

The 2017 batch of engineering graduates in the city could well be in for a surprise during campus recruitment as companies are increasingly adopting newer ways of assessing students, moving away from conventional hiring techniques.

While hackathons are a common hiring method, placement officers in colleges say companies are tweaking the way they engage with students to gauge their behavioral and analytical skills.

At RV College of Engineering (RVCE), financial services major Morgan Stanley used Lego building blocks in the second round of its campus hiring.

“Students were asked to solve a problem through building blocks for a managerial role. Students were really impressed," RVCE dean of placement and training D Ranganath said.

“Companies are using innovative methods. Some do a split group discussion, where one candidate is expected to play different roles to demonstrate flexibility," he said.

At least a dozen companies have asked MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology (MSRIT) to send video resumes of its students to assess their body language. “We've had companies do perception rounds where students are asked to write a story based on a picture. This helps companies know their emotional quotient,“ MSRIT head of training and placement Savitha Konna M said. “Companies no longer want students with 'doing' skills and the stress is on `thinking' skills."

Students at Christ University and New Horizon College of Engineering did not expect that they had to fly drone-like, remote-controlled inflated balloons. That was how US based digital marketing firm Epsilon kick-started its campus recruitment. “The intention was to bring an element of surprise," said Seema Padman, senior director (human resources ) at E p s i l o n .“Campus hiring is all about brand awareness. Students are well-informed and choosy . So the first step is to get their attention."

US-based technology firm ThoughtWorks has a code-pairing round where a candidate works with a panelist on a live project. “There's much more to students than asking them to just write tests," said Shipra Shandilya, ThoughtWorks campus lead India.

Very few graduates have a clear line of vision on where they want to go after studying a four-year engineering course, according to Neeti Sharma, senior vice president (learning services) at staffing firm Team Lease. “A lot companies are now doing behavioral assessment to find out where a candidate is best suited to work. It's also because quality of output is going down with so many engineering colleges that have come up."